Filled up with fuel today, wearing my Force guernsey walking from the bowser to the cash register two people stopped me just to say how terrible they felt about the Force being axed. Completely out of the blue, neither of them known to me.

Reinforced for me how much support there is in the WA public and how important the media coverage of the situation has been for awareness of the issue in WA. Great to see how many people do care and recognise the injustice done to the Force. Let's hope it can help us transition successfully to a new competition.

I've had that on several occasions since the ARU first announced they were going to wind us up in August. Even my neighbors who are AFL people and don't know much about Rugby are outraged at the ARU.

Rumour, gossip and hearsay

This past few weeks I've had conversations with links in Sydney who include old rugby mates from the North Shore. They are still involved in Club Rugby, a couple have involvement with the NSWRU and none of them are friends of the "St Leonards Rodeo", although they do talk to people in the ARU sometimes.
Comments made:

There are people in NSW rugby circles who are dismayed by the way that the ARU has handled the culling of the Western Force - unfair, insensitive, unnecessarily confrontational, vindictive, etc.

The ARU was focussed only on removing the Force, no thought or planning was given to what happens to rugby in WA after the Force is gone.

A couple said the ARU's present cuddling up to Twiggy Forrest over the IPRC is a diversionary tactic by the ARU. The IPRC won't go anywhere with the current ARU. Expected outcome is both parties walking away and accusing the other of bad faith and of not compromising. The ARU is worth bugger all, said one mate - Twiggy should buy it.

All of the above is rumour and gossip.

A side comment by one of them who does business in QLD - the Queenslanders are totally pissed off with the ARU over the Genia episode.

Point No. 2 is becoming more glaringly obvious by the day. And it doesn't just apply to WA. They gave no thought as to how 5 goes into 4 player-wise. By creaming off our best players, each 'creamer' was bound to end up with a higher salary bill as cheaper guys would make way for the better guys. Surely that's how the standard is supposed to improve, no?! Yet the ARU appears not to have factored that in anywhere.

Re Genia - are they pissed off because they couldn't get him back to the Reds or that he's back at all??

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